[necdb3]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Are you sure they are "taken"?
http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/P...izedPlates.htm
States you need at least three letters and a max. of seven characters.

How about 455HOTA?

The letter from the state came back that all three plates were currently in use.

[Bentwheelbob]

Well, there is bad news at the Hot Rod Garage. My Pal Dave has had a heart attack or some other cardiac related issue. He was admitted to the hospital last night. They did a heart catheterization today and found no blockage significant enough to insert a stent. They did find that the artery in his right leg groin area was totally blocked. He has had no numbness or other signs of blockage in this leg. The diagnosis of his problem is still unknown. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers please.

Meanwhile, this weekend I am going to pull the wheels off the Black Car and refinish the face of the wheels. The back side looks really good, like they have been blasted and refinished. The fronts are in good shape, but they have been coated with clear finish after the magnesium paint and they look pretty bad as compared to the wheels I refinished on the Red Car that have no clear coat.

I am going to haul them to the local tire shop in the Green Truck tomorrow and that is pretty darn exciting. My Pal Dave and I have been working on it for several months and we just finished everything up last night - so this will be a little tribute to MPD. I have been posting this project in The Lobby - here is the link:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=727561

Here are a few pictures:

My Pal Dave





Black Car Wheels



Red Car Wheels that I refinished

[Norwood]

Hoping for the best for dave....

[PB]

All the best for dave!

[njsteve]

I hope Dave feels better soon.

After you get a final verdict n the 1972 engine color, you should start on the honeycomb wheel color. :-)

BTW, the wheels were media blasted and then shot with that crazy expensive OEM Paints Honeycomb color. I think the gloss problem came from shooting the wheels from too close a distance. I had better results with the set on my T/A that I painted from a farther distance so that the paint had a chance to land on the surface in a drier state.

[Bentwheelbob]

Steve - thanks for the info. I'll pass your best on to Dave. I did not know you had the wheels blasted - did not remember seeing that in the thread. I am happy that you did because it's a lot of work. The faces are in great shape with no cracks, cuts or gouges. The finish just looks like it has a clear coat over the silver/magnesium wheel paint and they look somewhat gray and glossy compared to the other wheels I did using the OER magnesium wheel paint. The OER wheels also seemed to have more texture which I also had thought was a clear coat issue. I am planning to lightly sand them and then use an adhesion promoter prior to applying the OER finish.

Regarding another paint test, do you have any OEM left? Just kidding.

[The Boss]

Prayers sent for Dave - the truck looks great!

[njsteve]

Happy to help! By the way, for future repairs on honeycomb wheels, you can use the same bumper repair material I used for the valance. These wheels commonly get small separation cracks where the edges pull away from the rim. Just mix some of the material up and "caulk" the edge area and it fixes it nicely.

[165th]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

... I am planning to lightly sand them and then use an adhesion promoter prior to applying the OER finish. ..

Say Bob, instead of sanding, you may also consider just hitting them with a Harbor Freight glass bead blast. This will keep profile even, take the shine away and prep for another light coat over. I'm visualizing sanding will smooth things too much and just hit the high spots of the already laid profile.

I've completed that process once before with great success.

Good luck with the wheels and best to MPD.

[njsteve]

Those wheels were the extra set I had refinished for the radial tires on the T/A. When the car sold I gave the buyer the choice of the Polyglass set or the radial set and he chose the Polyglass set. The repair on those wheels was in the mega thread for my T/A.

How about just shooting them with a really dry, matt clear finish?

[Bentwheelbob]

I've got the OER paint already so I am just going to go ahead and shoot them with that. I think I will freshen up the back side also with a light coat of gray. The wheels are in really good shape, such a nice surprise. The stick on weights are nice and I loved the "cap locks" which were holding on the center caps. I did not know a product like that existed - where did they come from? What happened to the original Honeycombs from the Black Car? I am betting they are wearing some Firestone 500's right now. How do you date code these wheels?

I've already been to the tire shop and have them broken down and cleaned up. It was pretty cool pulling up with tires from a 1972 Firebird in the back of a 1959 pickup. I am going to tractor supply next for a fresh drum of glass beads.

MPD is doing OK. They don't think he had a heart attack, nor was the blockage they found significant enough to cause his problem. He did have a very high potassium level and they think that may have been it, but they continue to poke and prod trying to make a determination. I told him that many friends friends on the PY Forum were thinking of him and he was very appreciative and touched.. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts.

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

How do you date code these wheels?

Tires or rims?

Keeping Dave in my prayers.

[njsteve]

The date codes are inside the rim. Remember, when balancing you need to use a lug centric balancer that has the five studs that go throught the lug holes. Never try to balance honeycombs on a hub-centric balancer because as you know, the center cone in these wheels is only held in place by the urethane material and could be as much as 1/4 inch off center and you will never get the balance right. You can also accidentally crush the center cone area of the face when tightening the balancer mounting hub on them.

Those locking contraptions are great for retaining the expensive center caps but they are frustrating to reinstall. You have to use a long 3/8" extension and hold them in the exact spot to engage with the spring steel clips on the cap and then make a 1/4 turn without the contraption falling off the extension. Its like playing that old board game "Operation". :-)

The rims that came in the black car were rather grungy and had rubber that was too big for the car, so I put the restored set on that had the newer 235/60s T/As on them. (The Firestone 500s are actually mounted on the white car's original rims that had the 20 year old Goodyear STs on them. I mounted up the Firestones but didn't bother with balancing since they are for display only and I would not trust them to drive on.)

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Tires or rims?

Keeping Dave in my prayers.

Thanks HFR. Rims.

[West Coast GTO]

Ditto on the balancing. The good thing is now Big Brand Tires here in Thousand Oaks California now has the $1000.00 lug centric balancer on their tool inventory. They wre not too happy when they saw the price! It took them 4 weeks to order and receive that tool but the 73 now rides smooth as silk.

Originally Posted by njsteve

The date codes are inside the rim. Remember, when balancing you need to use a lug centric balancer that has the five studs that go throught the lug holes. Never try to balance honeycombs on a hub-centric balancer because as you know, the center cone in these wheels is only held in place by the urethane material and could be as much as 1/4 inch off center and you will never get the balance right. You can also accidentally crush the center cone area of the face when tightening the balancer mounting hub on them.

Those locking contraptions are great for retaining the expensive center caps but they are frustrating to reinstall. You have to use a long 3/8" extension and hold them in the exact spot to engage with the spring steel clips on the cap and then make a 1/4 turn without the contraption falling off the extension. Its like playing that old board game "Operation". :-)

The rims that came in the black car were rather grungy and had rubber that was too big for the car, so I put the restored set on that had the newer 235/60s T/As on them. (The Firestone 500s are actually mounted on the white car's original rims that had the 20 year old Goodyear STs on them. I mounted up the Firestones but didn't bother with balancing since they are for display only and I would not trust them to drive on.)

[Bentwheelbob]

Thanks to all of you who are wishing MDP well and keeping him in your thoughts. I told him about the PY outreach and he got a kick out of that. He's doing well. The doctors are still trying to figure out what went wrong.

Several weeks ago when Mike (Judge 273) was getting his lifts, I recommended to him that he also get the "bridge jacks" which allow you to lift the car off of the lift. He asked for a picture, but I never followed up. Since I have the Black Car up in the air for the wheel project, here they are. These jacks are incredibly handy, and any of you that get a lift should really consider adding them to your order. They are hydraulic operated and slide on UHMW runners.

Excuse the sand everywhere, that's remnants of the Green Truck project.

[Bentwheelbob]

Ok, how cool is this? Pontiac honeycombs in the back of the Green Truck headed for the tire guy. So I hauled the honeycombs to the guy and got them broken down this morning. Off the books - $20 tip with no waiting. Thanks to Greg's tip below, the project is moving along quickly.

Originally Posted by 165th

Say Bob, instead of sanding, you may also consider just hitting them with a Harbor Freight glass bead blast. This will keep profile even, take the shine away and prep for another light coat over. I'm visualizing sanding will smooth things too much and just hit the high spots of the already laid profile.

I've completed that process once before with great success.

Good luck with the wheels and best to MPD.

I followed his suggestion and bead blasted the wheel faces to clean them up, get rid of the gloss and provide a nice surface for adhesion. I ran the blast cabinet at 35psi and that was just about right. It did what I wanted it to do, but did not try to lift any of the finish. The back and inner portions of the wheels were in great shape, so I cleaned them with degreaser and a green scotchbrite. The back and inner wheel areas have been painted this evening. I cranked up the heat in the paint booth and hope they will be dry enough in the morning to start on the face area. Here are a few pictures.

Greg - thanks for the great suggestion.

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Thanks HFR. Rims.

I know Steve's already stated backside. So, here's the picture...

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

The dates should be around the interior of the rim not on the face. They are stamped in rather large fonts with a two letter code, where it was made and a date I think? I think you can actually see a portion of one of them on the rim in the lower left of this photo. Looks like a 12?

Here's a photo of what I mean:

[Bentwheelbob]

OK, it must be a sign of the apocalypse when two of the PY masters give differing information. Well, maybe not.....

Here's a couple of examples of what I have. How do you interpret the stampings?